Page 61 of The Lies We Steal

By the start of my backstroke my arms were burning, I was taking sharper breaths, and staying beneath the surface for less and less time. Fatigue was settling deep into my muscles.

But I pushed through. I demanded more from my body because my mind wasn’t finished yet. I swam because the water had always been a sort of freedom for me. A breakaway from the rules of gravity and the chance to feel absolutely weightless.

There is something about the motion of it, when you break past the burn, it starts to feel natural. The way the water swirls around me, the cool water as I move through a different medium than air.

I became a swimmer by accident.

I was eleven and my mom signed me up for a summer program, I spent the entire three months in the pool. And at the end of the program, there was a race, one that I had won by leaps and bounds.

It was the first positive label I’d ever been given.

The girl who could swim like a fish.

So I never stopped.

I flipped beneath the water one last time, pressing off the side of the pool with my toes and heels as hard as I could propelling myself forward under the water like a swift dagger in the wind.

I reappear at the surface, rotating my arms in constant circles as I force my body to finish this last meter of freestyle. My arms glide in and out of the pool, my legs kicking with power as the last of my stamina begins to dwindle.

My fingers and hand slap the top of the concrete, marking the end of my medley. I stand straight up in the shallow water, my legs wobbly, as I take a deep breath. Holding myself up against the edge, regaining my sense of vision above the water.

With little effort I lay back, letting the water carry me. My breathing regulates as I stare up at the star covered sky through the glass windows. Drifting off into a world all my own.

Envisioning myself as a woman with power. A business owner. A trailblazer. Someone important. Someone who can’t be overlooked. I didn’t know what I wanted to do for work after college, mostly because I didn’t think I’d be able to afford college. Now the possibilities are endless.

I have never-ending choices with a fancy degree from Hollow Heights.

My eyes had shut on their own. Completely absorbed by the water, the silence of the water soothing the chaos inside my head. I don’t know how long I laid there, just floating, but I could feel my fingers beginning to prune.

When I reopen my eyes the light from the pool beneath me is no longer bouncing off the windows. Everything is black.

In my swimmers high, I think I still have my eyes closed. Only when I stand up in the pool, my feet sinking to the bottom, rubbing my lids, do I accept the fact I’m in the dark.

Not just dark, the pitch-black oblivion. I can’t even see my hand in front of my face, not even the light from the stars is enough to stab through the black.

It’s ridiculous. I know the pool lights probably went out or timed out, a simple explanation. But irrational fears drive up to my spine, whispering in my ear.

What if this university has sharks they let out in here at night? Or crocodiles? They have about everything else dangerous and creepy, why should that be so far-fetched.

I look down at the water, the inky black liquid is only a sound in my ears. I can barely make out the top of it, let alone what’s beneath me. My toes prickle wanting me to take them out of this pool.

Blood pumps hard through me, pounding against my skin with every beat of my heart. My mouth starting to dry up, like balls of cotton had just been shoved inside my throat.

It’s a normal human reaction. Anyone would feel this way. The feeling that something is going to reach out grab my foot, yanking me beneath the water. Never seeing the surface ever again. Whether that be a ferocious great white or a human.

I can thankfully still touch, not sure how far away from the edge I am due to my reckless floating. I begin to toe my way forward, one arm outstretched feeling for something solid that can help me out of the pool.

Looking behind me is out of the question, I know as soon as I see the never-ending bleakness over my shoulder it’ll only make me panic more.

The light bulbs just burnt out, that’s all—

*Splash*

I lick my parched lips, freezing almost immediately.

Whatever just entered the water with me did so ungracefully. Their weight vibrated the bottom of the pool, ringing up my already weak legs.

Giant anaconda?